Angel of Isolation
by etia-nightwind
Summary: Nico hates quests, the truth, and Percy Jackson. Unfortunately, he's going to have to deal with all three when Annabeth and Connor Stoll get kidnapped. If he and his companions want to survive, Nico's going to have to face his true feelings for the son of Poseidon. Set between series.
1. Starlight

Nico was ticked off, although he wouldn't ever admit that to anyone.

He'd just shadow-traveled across the country from California, and when he collapsed on the border of Camp Half-Blood, no one even noticed or came to help him.

Not even Percy Jackson. Especially not Percy Jackson.

As the boy stumbled down the hill, trying to ignore the nausea, he realized the son of Poseidon had been too busy with...other things, specifically a blonde girl whose name started with A, same as acid or annoying.

The happy, perfect couple was going for a nice evening stroll, twittering like those really irritating songbirds in Disney movies. Annabeth had her hand on his elbow and he was laughing at something she'd just said.

Nico scowled. It didn't matter. He was completely fine, didn't care at all. After all, a boy who could speak to the dead shouldn't have been affected by something as simple as...

He shook the thought away.

He'd just come back from Camp Jupiter, the Roman demigod camp on the other side of the country, to drop off his half-sister Hazel. He'd been hoping more from her, but that'd been silly.

_Stop,_ he told himself. _Hazel's not Bianca. She wouldn't understand anything. It's unfair of you to expect that of her._

"Hey, Nico!"

His head snapped up. So finally Percy had noticed him. Feeling warmth creep up his neck, he managed a feeble wave. "Uh, hi."

"Where've you been?"

Up close, Nico could see the dark green flecks in the guy's eyes. Heart pounding, he muttered something random. The other boy nodded, but Nico knew Percy hadn't really heard or understood what he'd said.

"Hi, Nico," Annabeth said softly, pushing back her blonde hair.

He winced. He knew the daughter of Athena thought he had a crush on her-there'd been a rumor going around.

He forced himself to look at her. _Well, she's pretty,_ he told himself grudgingly. _Golden hair, stormy grey eyes. And she's really smart and brave. Why don't you fall for her? Good choice. Better than..._

But he knew it was no use. His emotions didn't work that way. And it wasn't like he hadn't tried before, with pretty much every girl in camp. Well, except for the current head counselor of Aphrodite cabin, Drew. Drew was just too not his type.

If he even had a type, that was.

He mumbled some excuse and walked away, suddenly unable to be in the presence of the couple a second longer. So obvious they were totally crazy about each other. He felt so exhausted, like his legs were made out of lead, and his head pounded.

_Stupid,_ he scolded. _You're so stupid, di Angelo. _

Somehow, he managed to drag himself back to his cabin. The outside looked wicked cool, with skulls and obsidian bricks and other Hades-type stuff, but that was mostly just to creep the other campers out so they wouldn't try to approach it, so they'd leave Nico alone. So far, it'd mostly worked, besides for some stupid prank Connor and Travis Stoll had pulled earlier in the month. The ghost skeleton soldiers had caught them before the twins had managed to replace Nico's aviator jackets with pink furry bunny suits.

He fell into bed, but his dreams weren't peaceful, not like they ever were.

* * *

First there was Percy. Percy smiling, Percy fighting in battle. Percy staring at Nico, face devastated when he'd realized that he had been tricked down into Hades's palace back in August. Percy with his sword Riptide up against Nico's throat, sea-green eyes fierce with rage. Percy and Annabeth embracing...kissing...

_Stop,_ he screamed in his mind.

Being a child of Hades, his dreams often included lost things or people, what he couldn't have, due to the River Styx. Often the nightmares included Bianca and his mother, but recently...recently there'd been other people too.

_I just admire him like a big brother,_ he insisted. After all, Percy did save the entire world more than once. Who wouldn't look up to a hero like that?

_Sure, but it's creepy how you're jealous of Annabeth_, another part of him sneered. _Disgusting. You think just because you live in this modern era, you're safe? Please. Remember where-when-you come from. The nineteen-forties aren't nearly as forgiving._

_Maybe I have a crush on Annabeth,_ another voice inside of him said hopefully_. Yeah, that's probably it._

But the idea was so stupid, so ridiculous. He knew it was.

_No, no, no. No! NO!_

Nico jolted awake.

He laid there gasping. His forehead was slick with sweat, and his sheets were twisted around his neck, like they were trying to strangle him.

Sitting up, he felt dizzy. A cold, tingling sensation pricked up his limbs. He knew that feeling. It meant someone close by was shadow-traveling.

But...who? That was the million-drachma question.

He jumped up, stuffing his feet into his shoes and running his fingers through his hair hastily. Most kids thought he didn't brush his hair at all, but the truth was, he just couldn't make it lie flat no matter what he did.

Outside, the fresh cool breeze assaulted him. It was painful to breathe. Nico stumbled.

Night was his favorite time. No one else was around to bother him. The darkness was quiet and brooding. It was easy to hide in the blackness.

_But are you hiding from the other campers, or yourself?_

He pushed the thought away.

_The son of Hades hides from NO ONE,_ he retorted back silently.

Yeah, right.

He heard a twig snap. Whirling around, he saw only the green glow of the torches on his cabin.

Walking slowly across the clearing, he scanned all the cabins. All the doors were shut, with the lights off. Even the Hermes cabin was completely dark and silent, which was a bit weird given that it was usually overcrowded and there'd always be someone clunking around in there looking for a stuffed animal or nicking someone else's wallet...

His heart dropped like a rock. Of course. Ever since the Battle of Manhattan, Hermes cabin was only half-full.

"Hey, di Angelo!"

He spun on his heel so fast he nearly lost his balance. "Wh-wha?"

It was Percy Jackson. Nico scowled. "What is it?"

"What are you doing? It's, like, two in the morning." The son of Poseidon pushed back his messy black hair.

"I just...uh..." Nico paused. He didn't want to raise any unnecessary concerns about another Hades demigod possibly shadow-traveling into the camp. "...wanted to see the stars," he finished lamely, borrowing from something he'd heard Bianca say once while they were at the Lotus Hotel in Las Vegas. She'd been staring up at the beautiful night sky, face shrouded in silver. The memory pulled at his heartstrings hard.

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Oh. Okay. Cool." Obviously, he had no idea how to reply to that.

_Great, now he thinks you're even more of an idiot,_ Nico thought.

"Well, uh, I was just out here 'cause I couldn't sleep," Percy said awkwardly. "So...um...do you always do this? Wake up and stare at the sky?"

Ignoring that question, Nico turned. "I'm going back to bed," he snapped without looking at Percy, suddenly annoyed for some reason. He walked away.

He looked around his cabin. His ears buzzed. At that moment, he knew Camp Half-Blood wasn't right for him. Sure, it was a pretty decent place, but he didn't belong here. He should've stayed at Camp Jupiter. Maybe there he'd be better off.

At least Percy Jackson wouldn't be there.

That did it. Nico was leaving at first light in the morning for California. Moving swiftly, he grabbed his clothes out of the closet and threw them into his bag.

His fingers hesitated over the Mythomagic figurine that he kept hidden in the back. It was a gift from both Bianca and Percy, years ago. He'd still kept it, all this time.

He wanted nothing to do with it. He desired it so bad.

He'd burned all his Mythomagic cards and thrown away all his figurines except this one. This one...it was different.

"I'll decide in the morning," he mumbled, collapsing on the floor and squeezing his eyes shut.

* * *

When he woke, the crack below the door was already a light blue, signaling that it was dawn. Outside, there was lots of yelling.

_So much for the cabin being soundproof_ was Nico's first thought.

His second thought was _What in Hades's name is GOING ON?_

It was that thought that got him up and moving. He'd slept on the hard floor, so his shoulders and neck were sore, but he ignored that. Running outside, he saw the Hermes and Athena kids dashing about. A kid with curly blonde hair and grey eyes was barking tactical orders. A Hermes kid had taken advantage of the Athena cabin being empty and was slipping inside, no doubt to loot stuff-everyone knew Cabin Seven had a motherload of cool electronics.

He stared blearily, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Nico!" Percy ran up to him, his eyes wild. "Have you seen Annabeth anywhere?"

"What?" Startled, Nico stepped back.

"Annabeth and Connor Stoll-they're gone!"


	2. Shadow

The rec room was jam-packed with cabin counselors, as well as all the Hermes and Athena campers. Chiron and Rachel Elizabeth Dare hadn't arrived yet, and everything was chaotic.

"We should go blow up stuff! Fight bad guys! Kill everything except for Annabeth and Connor!" a satyr who insisted everyone call him Coach Hedge yelled. Nico wasn't sure what he was doing here, except that he seemed to always pop up whenever violence was involved.

"Hey, Travis, if Connor doesn't come back, can I have his bunk?" a Hermes kid, maybe ten or eleven, asked, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.

Looking at him, Nico felt a lump in his throat. He still remembered when he was that age, fresh from Westover School, so naive and carefree.

Will Solace ran his fingers through his hair. "Maybe they just wanted to leave? I mean, some kids, they don't stay all the time..." He glanced at Nico, who was known for flitting in and out of camp. Nico stared at him wearily, not sure what to say.

"It's probably one of Stoll's bad jokes," growled Clarisse La Rue. "And Chase can turn invisible using her stupid Red Sox cap, maybe that's got to do with her disappearance. Never liked that team."

"It's Yankees, not Red Sox," Nico felt like he had to point out. The first time he'd seen the hat, he'd been ten years old, and Percy had been wearing it. It'd been so cool, seeing the boy disappear and reappear, just like the Rush of Vanishment Mythomagic card. Whatever. He was thirteen now. So over that game.

"Twit, same thing."

Percy cleared his throat. "So!" Even though he wasn't speaking very loudly, everyone stopped talking and looked at him. He had that natural-leader presence. "The situation is bad," he said.

"Obviously, wimp," Clarisse muttered, but Percy either didn't hear her or ignored her.

"Do you think Kronos has anything to do with it?" Katie Gardner's chocolate-brown eyes were full of concern.

"No," Percy said firmly, although a muscle in his jaw twitched. "He's gone."

The door burst open, and Chiron and Rachel walked in, both looking very grim. Everyone stared at them uneasily.

"Percy, what is going on?" Chiron asked in a gravelly voice.

"Annabeth and Connor are gone." Percy's face was tight with worry and conflict. Nico felt an itch in the back of his mind, but he wasn't sure why.

"Connor said he was going to step outside last night at around two," Travis Stoll said quietly. For once, he wasn't grinning in that snarky _I-just-got-away-with-putting-fertilizer-on-Demeter 's-cabin's-toothbrushes_ way. Fleetingly, Nico thought that a sullen Travis was cute. Then he decided he must've really not gotten enough sleep last night, if he was thinking ridiculous things like that.

"He was just going to switch the perfume in Aphrodite cabin with weed killer," he continued.

"Hey!" Drew and Katie exclaimed at the same time.

"For the last week, we've had to pull out all the weedy growth by hand," Katie snapped.

"Even if I wore that disgusting liquid, I would still smell better than you, hon," Drew told Travis.

Nico privately thought that taking a sniff of weed killer would less likely kill him than a whiff Drew's current perfume.

"I fell asleep before Connor came back," Travis finished.

Percy looked at Nico. "Around two last night...I was outside with Nico, but I didn't see anything."

All eyes turned to Nico. He felt his cheeks heat up.

"I didn't see anything either," he managed.

"Argh!" Percy slammed his fist into his other palm. "I should've gone to check on Annabeth. I should've known something was going on!"

Seeing Percy in anguish made Nico's chest hurt, like it was hard to breathe. He was angry: he wanted to go and give whoever had taken away Annabeth a mouthful of Stygian iron. But at the same time, even though it made him feel really guilty, there was a tiny ember of hope inside his heart...

Suddenly, a rainbow appeared in the air, where sunlight was filtering through the window. Almost everyone jumped away like it was going to bite.

Coach Hedge grunted. "Permission to kill intruder?" He raised his fist.

"Shh!" three or four demigods hissed, all fixated intently on the Iris message.

Annabeth was bound and gagged, clearly unconscious. She was in a dark room that somehow looked familiar, and Nico could hardly make out her features. Connor was nowhere to be seen.

A note flashed across the mist. Nico knew a bit of Greek from his old Mythomagic days, but he still struggled to see what it meant.

"Two weeks. Golden Fleece or they die," an Athena kid translated before Nico had even finished deciphering the first word.

"That's subtle," someone muttered, after the silence got too long.

Travis looked like he was trying to swallow a sock.

Just as Percy opened his mouth to say something, Rachel slumped over. Katie and Will ran over to catch her before she hit the floor.

Her eyes glowed neon green. Nico flinched. Even though he'd seen so many things in the Underworld and the Labyrinth, he was still a bit weirded out by the Oracle's whole smoke-and-flashes thing.

_"Four will travel west_

_Saved only by autumn harvest_

_Son of shadows conquers his worst fear_

_Bearer of the snakes loses what he holds most dear."_

Rachel's face colored, and she stumbled. Katie slowly guided her to an empty chair.

Travis stood up, face suddenly grim. Nico hadn't ever seen him so determined before, but he knew firsthand what losing a sibling was like, and he couldn't blame the guy for being less cheerful than normal.

"So," Travis said. "It's settled. A quest, with four campers. I call dibs for a spot. I've got to save my brother."

"Me too," Percy said. "I have to help Annabeth."

"I'll go too," Nico found himself saying. Everyone stared.

He couldn't really explain why he felt so certain, so determined. But he felt he was supposed to save Annabeth and Connor. Percy needed help. No, he wasn't doing this for Percy. Not at all.

"Well, it says 'son of shadows'," he said defensively. "Son of Hades. Me." But deep down, he knew that wasn't the reason why he wanted to go.

Percy nodded. "Thanks, Nico. I appreciate it."

Nico forced a smile, but it must've came out creepier than he'd intended, for a couple campers standing near him backed away.

_Or they just all hate you_, he thought moodily. It wasn't like he didn't know how others felt about him-how they thought he was scary. He didn't belong. His fingers itched, but he fought to restrain his hands, because raising skeletons from the ground at a time like this would only cement the others' negative opinions of him.

"Autumn harvest. That's got to be Demeter," an Athena kid said.

Katie nodded grimly. "All right. That's..." For a mere second, panic and fear flashed across her face.

The children of Demeter were usually placid, and monsters didn't attack them too often. In fact, Nico couldn't remember ever hearing about a Demeter kid going on a quest. Even during the Battle of Manhattan, most of them didn't participate in hand-to-hand combat, opting to trip up enemies with vines and weeds instead.

"I'll go," she muttered finally, pinking. Nico remembered that he'd seen Travis and Katie talking on the beach a couple weeks ago. Absently, he wondered what that'd been all about.

"Then we're set," Chiron said, looking pained. "And here I was hoping for several months of peace and quiet after the recent war."

"What about the Golden Fleece, though?" Rachel asked, looking around the room. "We can't just give it to them."

Someone winced at the word _we_. Sure, Rachel spent a lot of time at camp, but she was still a mortal. Not exactly part of the demigod group.

"We can't let them die, either," Travis shot back.

"Then we gotta bust 'em out," Clarisse growled, slamming her palms down hard on the table. A cup of coffee tipped over from the force of the impact, spilling brown liquid all over the surface. No one bothered to clean it up.

"But...we don't even know where they are..." Katie said helplessly.

"They're in the Underworld," Nico said suddenly. He knew why the dark room Annabeth was in looked familiar. He'd been there before. "They're in Hades's castle."

Percy made a gagging sound. "Not the cells?"

"No," Nico said, shame flooding him. About a month ago, he'd tricked Percy into coming with him to Hades's palace, and the poor guy had been thrown into an airtight cell.

He shuffled his feet, not able to meet anyone's eyes. "They're in my guest bedroom."

* * *

Nico stared out at the waves glumly. The ocean was a grey-blue today, as if reflecting his mood.

They were going to leave in a couple hours, at sundown. Katie and Travis were preparing supplies. Since Nico had packed last night (for a very different trip-the kind that didn't involve other people) he didn't have anything to do except wait.

Nico didn't want to go anywhere with Percy Jackson. He hated the guy, or so he told himself. He was doing this stupid quest for Annabeth and Connor.

He was a pretty good liar, but not good enough to fool himself.

"Hey, can I join you?"

The son of Poseidon crashed down next to him. Nico bit back a sharp retort. Bianca had always told him to be nice and to give others a chance, and unfortunately, that advice applied to Percy Jackson too.

"I know why you're going on the quest," Percy said. His green eyes were the color of spring, Nico's favorite season. Not that he cared.

"Y-you do...?" He'd meant for it to come out brittle, but it sounded weak, pathetic. He shifted away from Percy.

"Yeah." The older boy smiled gently, making Nico's stomach twist. "It's okay, though. Falling for someone who's already taken."

What? Nico wasn't sure if he'd heard Percy right. "I'm not-who said-I don't like-" he sputtered, heart pounding.

Percy continued, "It's all right. I sure can't blame you. I mean, lots of people have a crush on-"

"Don't compare me to Rachel, you don't know anything!" Nico burst out.

Percy looked completely baffled. "Uh...what? Rachel? Who said anything about...I mean, Rachel likes Annabeth? What?"

"Annabeth?" Nico repeated, confused.

"I mean, I heard Connor Stoll liked her last year," Percy said. "And Michael Yew, too." He paused. "It's okay if you have feelings for her, too."

The words loomed in the air, heavy and suffocating. Nico's head spun. What was Percy on about?

"You can't help your emotions," Percy continued, looking a bit awkward now. He'd clearly planned this speech in advance, because there was no way he'd be this eloquent winging it. "That's okay. I'm sure one day you'll find the perfect girl. And I'm really glad you're coming on the quest with me."

Nico looked up hopefully, but then Percy said, "I mean...no one knows the Underworld like you do."

Heart sinking, he scowled. Of course. He was just a tour guide, a compass.

"But you've got to trust me. I won't be mad." Percy placed a hand on Nico's shoulder. Electricity chilled the boy to the bone, and suddenly he couldn't concentrate.

"Nico, be honest with me here. Do you like Annabeth?"

* * *

**Hi guys! Thanks for all of your kind reviews, faves, and follows! This is my first fanfic and I really was not expecting such a nice response. I hope you keep reading!**

**-Etia **


	3. Mask

It took a minute for the words to sink in. Nico stared at Percy in disbelief.

"It's okay if you do," Percy said, fidgeting with his shoelaces. "I mean, I could completely see why you'd be into her. She's..." He trailed off, looking forlorn. "She's really great."

"Why w-would you ever think, uh, that, well, I..." Nico stammered.

Percy cracked a sad smile. "I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings between us. Er...a couple of Aphrodite campers told me you were jealous of me and Annabeth being together...they said you have a certain, um, 'expression' on your face when you see us."

"I have no 'expression', that's how I always look," Nico snapped, irritation bubbling up inside of him.

"Look, Nico, we're going on a quest together. If we're going to work together, we have to trust each other. Be honest with each other."

_Be honest._

Yeah, right. Nico was the son of _Hades_. He'd spent seventy years trapped in time,_ in a Vegas hotel_, for Zeus's sake. And then his sister had died, even though Percy had told Nico he'd protect her. His entire _life_ was a lie.

So he did what he was so good at: he ran away from the truth. Again.

"Yeah," he muttered. "I can't help it. Annabeth's pretty cool. Sorry. It's okay, though. I get it. She's with you."

Percy leaned over and hugged Nico.

It was a simple, one-arm squeeze, but Nico still thought his heart was going to rip out of his chest.

Blushing furiously, he glared at the ground. "What in Hades's name was _that_ for?" He tried to muster up as much anger as he could. "I don't like being touched."

Percy raised his hands, palms facing outwards. "Whoa. Sorry, man. Just...well, we're a team now. And I feel you, I really do."

He stood up, offering his hand to Nico. "Come on. Let's go and get Annabeth and Connor back."

Ignoring Percy's outstretched palm, Nico stood up by himself. "Yeah," he said grimly. "Let's go."

* * *

They left a couple minutes after six, the setting sun behind them, backpacks slung on their shoulders.

Katie hugged each of her cabinmates, smiled at Lacy and Mitchell from Aphrodite's cabin, gave one of her sisters her prized gardening book, and told them to protect their shed supplies from the Hermes gang and to make sure the sprinklers came on at "exactly nine-thirty-two at night, I mean it, nine-thirty-three and the strawberries won't fill out their optimum dimensions."

Travis fist-bumped his siblings, told Clarisse her armor was unstrapped and made her look down, and told his second-in-command to "remember to use the list of pranks I gave you. There's still a good four hundred left we haven't used. Carry on the Hermes legacy or I'll fill your bunk with centipedes when I get back!"

Percy high-fived every single cabin counselor besides Clarisse, who threatened to turn him into shish kebob with her electric spear if he went near her, told Tyson to keep an eye on things while he was gone, and then turned to his quest companions. "Come on, let's go kick kidnapper butt."

Nico stared all the campers. There were familiar faces, sure. Clarisse, Rachel, Will...

But friends? No. He had no one to say goodbye to. No one to even shake hands with.

Loneliness and gloom settled over him. He suddenly felt empty inside, like everything good had been suddenly squeezed out. He gritted his teeth. _Come on, di Angelo. Don't lose it right now. Not here. Not in front of everyone._

"Yeah, let's go," he muttered, and then they walked down to the car, where Argus was waiting to take them to the Greyhound bus station.

* * *

"I'm just sayin', the Weasley twins were _badass._ Like, I _wish_ I had their magical powers. All the stuff I could get up to..."

"No! They were so mean, using those little first-years during the fifth book to test their inventions. Luna is so much better of a character!"

Nico bit back a sigh. Katie and Travis had been going at it for a good twenty minutes already, arguing over which Harry Potter character was awesomer.

His education consisted of two months at military school, and paired with dyslexia and ADHD, any chance of him reading anything more than a cereal box was totally shot, so he had no idea what they were talking about.

Luckily, Percy looked just as clueless as Nico felt, so he wasn't stuck being the only one out of the loop.

"You know, once I actually borrowed one of their ideas," Travis was saying. "That swamp idea to trip up the awful frog-teacher?"

"That was you?" Katie hissed, and Nico scooched away. Not so easy to do in a cramped vehicle, but he managed to get two inches of distance in between. He'd seen what an angry daughter of Demeter could do; after all, his stepmother was Persephone.

Travis gave her a crooked grin. "Dude, it was so epic-"

"All the plants in that region WITHERED AWAY!" Katie screamed, making Argus slam on the brakes. "It took TWO WEEKS for us to MAKE UP THE LOSS! AND ALL THE FLOWERS REEKED OF GYM SOCKS FOR A MONTH!"

Travis snickered. "That was Connor's idea. We stole all of Ares cabin's clothes to get the right smell."

Sparks flew from Katie's eyes-literally. Travis's shoelaces turned into vines and started curling up his calves. He yelped and started swiping at his legs.

Nico looked at Percy, and they both smirked. His heart sped up. Oh, Hades, those crinkled green eyes and that mischievous expression...

_Stop it,_ he scolded himself, biting into his inner cheek until the metallic taste of blood entered his mouth. _That is just so wrong. You're disgusting. Absolutely awful._

"Uh, hey, Nico, you okay?" Percy asked, leaning over.

"Just leave me alone," Nico muttered, hating himself more and more by the minute. _Go away, Jackson. Just get away from me. Don't look at me. Don't pay attention to me. Don't give me any thought. I'm nothing, okay? I'M NOTHING._

Katie and Travis's arguing faltered, and the two teens exchanged confused glances. Nico saw Travis's mask of happy-go-lucky slide away, just for a second, and the son of Hermes looked scared and lost.

Of course. His brother was lost. It figured that he'd just shove away the pain and put on a mask. After all, wasn't that what Nico had done, all these years?

An uncomfortable few minutes passed, and then Argus parked in front of the station.

The kids spilled out, grabbing their packs.

After the car pulled away from the curb, the four lingered on the sidewalk. Nico glanced at their faces. He'd been through the Labyrinth and the Underworld with Percy, sure, but he'd never expected to go on a quest with Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner. Both of them were at least seventeen or eighteen, but yet they'd been through so much less than Nico: he could see it in the lack of weariness in their face, the hope in their eyes.

But then he remembered Travis, and who they were on the quest to save, and he felt guilty.

Percy cleared his throat. "So-er, let's go?"

The son of Poseidon looked nervous. Oh, yeah, that was right. Wasn't this how Percy's first quest had started out? Argus driving him and his companions to the Greyhound station. Of course, back then, it'd been his best friend, satyr Grover and his future girlfriend Annabeth at his side...not a kid known for shoplifting from the camp store, a girl whose idea of violence was trimming the roses, and of course Nico himself, a boy who preferred the dead to the living, who sure didn't want to be around Percy at all.

Travis grinned and ducked inside. The others shrugged and followed him. By the time Nico trudged in, Stoll was smiling from ear to ear, flashing four bus tickets to California at them.

Katie gagged. "How did you-what-did you steal-"

"Being the son of Hermes has perks, you know. God of travelers and all that." Travis smirked. "What about Demeter? Do weeds shudder at your mere presence or something like that?"

"We get cereal discounts," Katie said automatically, before she realized he was making fun of her. "Hey!"

Percy managed to laugh. "Okay, come on, let's go."

Nico couldn't help but wonder how far they'd make across the country before the bus would blow up or turn into a monster's next meal, as vehicles seemed often to do whenever demigods-especially Percy Jackson-were involved. Surely they'd be able to get out of the state, at least.

That was too optimistic a thought, as he was about to find out.

* * *

**Hey, guys! Just wanted to tell you all Happy Halloween. Is anyone dressing up as a character from PJatO/HoO? I'm considering Nico or Hazel...**

**Also, ****(HOUSE OF HADES SPOILER)**** what are your opinions on Nico's character development in the book? Did any of you see it coming, and who was completely shocked? I personally like it, and I guessed beforehand, ****_win._****(END OF SPOILER)**

**By the way, I'll try to update this story weekly. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Revenge

_Useful quotes to jog your memory:_

_"Our beach is on the North Shore of Long Island, and it's enchanted so most people can't even see it. People don't just _appear _on the beach unless they're demigods or gods or really, really lost pizza delivery guys. (It's happened-but that's another story.)" _The Last Olympian, _pg. 44_

_"A demigod with a bloody knife stood...He'd been trying to stab me. Judging from the position of his blade, he would've taken me-maybe by sheer luck-in the small of my back, my only weak point...I locked eyes with the enemy demigod. He wore an eye patch under his war helm: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis." _The Last Olympian, _pg. 190_

_"Kronos rose to one knee...'Nakamura!' he groaned. 'Time to prove yourself. You know Jackson's secret weakness. Kill him, and you will have rewards beyond measure.'_

_Ethan's eyes dropped to my midsection, and I was sure that he knew. Even if he couldn't kill me himself, all he had to do was tell Kronos..._

_...Then he charged...but not at me. While Kronos was still on his knees, Ethan brought down his sword on the Titan lord's neck..."_ The Last Olympian, _pg. 328 _

* * *

Nico watched gloomily as Travis played poker against himself. Years ago, the Stoll brothers had challenged him to a poker game. Being ten and stupid, he'd readily agreed, but after Connor figured out Nico's idea of "prized possession" was the super-rare Apollo and Artemis duo figurine, the brothers decided it wasn't worth their time.

"Oh, full house," Travis muttered under his breath. "I guess that means I lose a drachma...oh, and I gain it too! Ha."

Katie had her white earbuds in, pointedly ignoring the boy. Percy was flipping through a skateboard magazine, but Nico could tell he wasn't really reading it-for one thing, he was holding it upside down, and for another, Percy's eyes were darting around the bus nervously.

The Greyhound creaked to a stop, and the doors flew open. It'd been...what? Half an hour, forty minutes since they got on. Nico wasn't sure where they were.

Two teens got on. The boy had golden hair and looked about fifteen, a year younger than Percy. There was a scar on his upper lip, and he was buff, like he'd spent his childhood wrestling monsters. The girl, who was maybe a bit older, had dark hair braided down her back and a regal, steely look about her, the kind that said _don't mess with me._

Nico's jaw dropped. It was Jason and Reyna, the two praetors of the Roman camp. He'd met them...had it been only yesterday?

What were they doing here? Romans stayed West and Greeks were East. That was an unspoken rule.

Percy looked up too, and his eyes lit up. He nudged Nico. "Hey, dude, look, it's that guy!"

_What?_ Nico looked behind Reyna.

A couple months ago, somehow, a pizza delivery boy had gotten really, _really_ lost, and had managed to show up inside Camp Half-Blood when he was supposed to be delivering pepperoni-and-sausage in New Jersey. Sure enough, he had just gotten on the bus. He still wore that dazed expression that had struck Nico as a bit off when they'd first met.

"Hey, Derek!" Percy waved.

That was when Reyna noticed the son of Poseidon.

Her eyes darkened, and her hand went straight to her dagger, which was strapped to her hip.

Jason placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you okay?" he murmured. He glanced at Percy apprehensively.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Reyna snapped, even though she was looking murderous. "Let's not sit here. Closer to the front would be better."

"Uh, sure," Jason agreed, looking completely confused. Then he saw Nico. "Oh, hey! You're Haz-"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nico interrupted. Percy, who'd been chatting animatedly with the lost pizza guy Derek, finally noticed what was going on. He looked from Reyna and Jason to Nico.

"No, no, you just showed up yesterday," Jason said, frowning. "You're Pluto's-"

"You must be mistaken," Nico insisted. Greeks and Romans didn't mix: he knew that much. And his dad, Hades, had warned Nico not to reveal the existence of Camp Jupiter to Camp Half-Blood, or vice versa.

Reyna's face softened. She seemed to understand that Nico didn't want to be recognized. "Jason, the boy just looks a lot like Octavian," she said, raising her eyebrows.

_Octavian?_ Nico remembered the skinny sandy-haired kid with mutilated stuffed animals hanging around his belt. He resembled that guy as much as Mr. D looked like Aphrodite.

Jason still looked puzzled, but he went along with it. "Oh, yeah. That must be it."

"You look familiar," Percy blurted out, looking at Reyna.

Reyna scowled. "Oh, really? And why would that be?" But Nico, who was an expert when it came to lying, saw the twitch of her eyebrow, the tilt of her shoulders, and he knew this girl was aware of exactly who Percy Jackson was.

Percy frowned. "Do you go to Goode High?"

"You must be mistaken," Reyna snapped, turning away. "Jason, we should sit down."

Derek shifted in his seat and craned his neck to look at Nico. "Oh hey! It's Nicky, right? You're the one who found me. How's the farm been doing?"

Nico squinted, trying to remember what story they'd fed Derek. Oh yeah, Camp Half-Blood was a strawberry farm that sometimes held an agriculture camp to give kids a hands-on experience in green living...something like that. Probably Katie had been the one to make it up.

"Yeah, the strawberries are...good," he mumbled. "How've you been?"

"Hey!" Travis's head popped up from the seat behind Nico. "Derek, wanna play poker?"

* * *

Nico knew there was something _off_, something _wrong_, but he didn't figure out what the problem was until it was too late.

It wasn't just that Reyna and Jason, the two praetors of Camp Jupiter, were on the same bus as four campers from Camp Half-Blood. That was messed up, and Nico couldn't figure why Reyna and Jason would be here at all, but...that wasn't what was bothering him. Something about Derek was wrong.

_He's just a regular mortal,_ he told himself. _You're just paranoid._

"Royal flush!" Travis cheered. "The pizza coupons go to me!"

"Oh, okay, that's enough," Derek groaned. His eyes flashed red. "You beat me. For the sixteenth time. Happy?"

Travis gave him a sneaky grin. "Oh, just-" Then his face contorted, and he fell forward, eyelids fluttering.

Immediately, Percy, Nico, and Katie were on their feet. "Travis!" the daughter of Demeter cried, rushing over.

A silver blade was sticking out of Travis's chest. White sticky liquid was oozing out of the wound.

Percy whirled around. "What did you do?" he demanded.

Derek drew a sword out of nowhere. "It's time. I've had enough. Now it's time for revenge."

"For what?" Nico had to ask. "We even bought you a ticket back to New Jersey..."

Derek laughed humorlessly. "Idiots! Did you really buy my half-assed lie, that I was a Domino's delivery boy?"

Percy looked completely baffled. "So that wasn't true? Then what pizza chain do you work for?"

Nico resisted the urge to smack the guy upside the head with Stygian iron. For the so-called hero of the Great Prophecy who saved the entire world from doom and gloom, he sure was dense sometimes.

"You're a legacy," Nico realized. That was what had been off. Derek hadn't..._seemed_ like a mortal, completely. But he also wasn't a demigod. He was a quarter-god, or something like that.

"Ten points to the scrawny pale boy!" Derek threw a knife at Nico's head. He ducked, and a golden sword came swishing and deflected the blade.

He didn't have to turn around to know it was Jason who'd come to his aid.

"You get a bonus if you can guess who my grand-daddy was," Derek taunted, but his eyes were focused on the son of Jupiter.

"What do you want?" Nico demanded, grabbing out his sword.

Derek chuckled and grabbed something out of his backpack. Nico didn't realize what it was until it was too late.

A remote control.

_This vehicle is rigged._

Then the bus exploded.

* * *

He couldn't believe they all survived.

Right before the blast hit, Jason grabbed Reyna and Nico by the collars and barely managed to fly out before the bus caved in, thousands of pounds of metal and plastic and rubber crashing down.

About a hundred feet behind them, the wreckage was smoking. There were no mortals in sight-they'd probably disintegrated on the spot. Nico's throat constricted at the thought.

Derek came out from behind the rubble, dragging an unconscious Percy onto the sidewalk. Katie and Travis were both collapsed on the pavement. Nico could tell from the rise and fall of their chests that they were still alive.

Reyna and Jason gave each other nearly imperceptible nods and then charged together. Nico raced to help them, raising his own sword.

Three against one should've been a no-brainer, especially considering that all three demigods were experienced fighters. But Derek could match all of them, easy.

Jason wove in and out, slashing with Imperial gold. Reyna hacked and stabbed with her dagger, mouth a grim slash. Nico could feel his legs tiring out, and it felt like heavy weights had been strapped onto his arms.

_What's going on?_ Nico never got this tired this fast in a fight. He glanced at the Roman praetors. Their faces were sagging, and their moves weren't as sharp as they could've been. They were exhausted too.

_It's Derek. He's messing with our stamina._ Just as he realized this, Derek released a flurry of wicked-sharp silver knives. Reyna, Jason, and Nico managed to deflect nearly all of them, but one ricocheted off Nico's blade, whistling past his nose by an inch, and flew straight at Reyna.

"No!" Jason body-slammed into her, knocking her out of the way. The knife lodged into his shoulder, spurting out silver-white liquid.

Reyna rushed over to him. "Jason!" Her shoulders were shaking, and she looked too worn out to even stand up. Immediately, she collapsed.

Nico's heart chugged to a stop when he realized what the pale sticky stuff was. After all, Cabin Fifteen back at camp had a tin bowl of it on their mantle. "Hypnos," he gasped. "Your grandpa's Hypnos. God of sleep." But that didn't make sense...Most of the Hypnos kids at camp just snored all day long. They didn't have crazy powers like Derek.

The other boy smirked. "Bonus points go to Nico di Angelo!" Quick as lightning, before Nico could even react, Derek had a sword up against his chin.

Heart pounding, he choked out, "You knew my name wasn't Nicky." He paused. "Who-who are you? What do you want?"

"You know Ethan, right? Ethan Nakamura?" Derek asked conversationally, as if they were just two friends sipping lattes at Starbucks.

"Y-Yeah. Hermes cabin. Unclaimed." Nico tried to conjure up a mental image of the slender, black-haired boy with an eye patch. The first day they'd met, three years ago, they'd had to share a sleeping bag since there wasn't a spare.

Of course, Ethan had died, betraying Kronos...

"We fought side-by-side several times in the war," the other boy said cheerfully. "He was an excellent swordsman. Much better than you or your friends." He smiled broadly. "We were quite close. Good pals. The day he asked me to be his boyfriend was the best in my life."

_"What?_" Nico blurted out, forgetting momentarily that Derek had a sword against his neck. "Nakamura-he was-you mean-no way-"

He was so distracted, he didn't realize he was being forced backwards by Derek until it was too late.

Metal bars shot up from underneath the ground, trapping him in. Immediately, he felt woozy and nauseous, and his vision blurred. That was impossible. How did this guy have this kind of magic?

_Magic._ Nico wanted to slap himself. Why didn't he figure it out sooner? After all, this boy had fought in the Second Titan War. And Hecate, the goddess of magic, she'd sided with the Titans, hadn't she?

_Hecate's Blessing_ was a pretty rare Mythomagic card, and he'd only heard about it, never seen it. But he knew the general gist: super-awesome powers, half a million attack points, epic battle skills...

The grandson of Hypnos raised his eyebrows. "Is that surprising? I mean, it's not like Ethan hadn't told me a couple stories about_ you_ and _your_...ah, oddness, let's just say?"

Nico flushed. "Just get to your point. What do you want from me?" Using all of his strength, he concentrated, trying to raise skeletons from the ground, but he was so tired it was impossible.

"I want you to help me get Ethan back."

Nico laughed dryly. "That's impossible. Even the son of Hades can't bring the dead back."

"You did it with Hazel Levesque, your half-sister."

"Wh-What?" Something very cold wrapped around Nico's heart. There was no possible way for this kid to know that. No one knew except for Nico and Hazel themselves. "How do you know that?"

Derek walked over and prodded Percy with his foot, ignoring the question. "Everyone has a weakness," he said, eyes trained on Nico. "It doesn't take much to guess what yours is."

"Go ahead, try to hurt him," Nico snapped, trying not to let on how nervous he was. But, he reassured himself, Percy had swum in the River Styx. He was completely invincible.

"He's not completely invincible," Derek said, as if he could read Nico's mind. "I'm sure you remember how close Ethan came to destroying Perseus's soul?"

Nico did. Percy had one vulnerable spot, one place on his body where he could be utterly annihilated, and somehow, last month, during the battle Ethan Nakamura had figured out where it was. Annabeth had thrown herself in front of Percy, just like Jason had just saved Reyna. The idea of what could've happened if Annabeth hadn't been there made Nico's blood run cold.

"I never told Ethan, but Hypnos has power over memories," Derek continued. Nico's mouth dried-he could see where this was going. "Kind of like an empathy link between a satyr and a demigod. With effort, I could completely connect my mind with Ethan's."

"And you didn't even tell him?" Nico had to ask. That was just so freaking creepy. Was all love like that, obsessive and clingy?

_Or maybe just love between two boys is like that,_ a tiny voice in his head sneered.

"I know where Jackson's sweet spot is," Derek said, smiling wolfishly. "Checkmate. Or, as Mythomagic players would say, _Trojan horse._"

"There's...there's no way," Nico said, feeling like he was free-falling. "You're bluffing."

"Are you sure, di Angelo? Is that something you would swear on the River Styx? I know exactly how to kill him." Derek yanked his knife out of Travis's chest, and Nico's stomach twisted. "All I have to do is..." He rolled up Percy's shirt. "Stab him here. At the small of his back."

Deadly blade two inches away from skin, the boy looked at Nico. "So. It's your choice. If you don't help me, he dies."


	5. Manipulation

"I can't bring Ethan Nakamura back," Nico told Derek through the bars of his jail, hoping his voice wasn't shaking. "I...I only succeeded with Hazel...because she's a child of the Underworld." It was true.

"Lies!" Derek hissed, face twisting into an ugly mask of anger and pain. "I've heard whispers. A life for a life? Jackson here has the Achilles blessing. He's defied death too many times. I'm sure his life would be very useful to barter with."

Nico swallowed hard. He remembered, two years ago, what he'd said to Percy: _Bianca's life is worth a thousand of yours!_ Back then, he'd been an angry little kid, naive enough to believe the empty promises and trickery of a ghost.

But...even when Percy had first told him Bianca was dead, and those awful skeleton warriors had shown up, ready to kill the son of Poseidon, he couldn't let them hurt the guy. Not to mention the reason Percy even had the Achilles blessing to begin with was because Nico had coaxed him into swimming into the River Styx.

_Well, I didn't do that for HIM,_ he thought to himself. _I did that to save America. Without the invincibility thing, there's no way Percy could've fought Kronos._

The idea of what would've happened otherwise made him sick.

_Come on, think._ He couldn't beat Derek from sheer brutal force, and he couldn't rely on anyone else to help him-_as usual_. But he knew what love did to people. It messed with their logic. Maybe he could take advantage of that...

He sighed dramatically, channeling his inner Oscar-award-winning actor. He'd lied enough to the teachers at Westover School-_no, sir, I did not sneak into the kitchen and steal the brownies meant for the alumni reunion party tomorrow_-to be able to pull off most charades decently. "Fine, fine! Just-" As embarrassing as it was, he forced himself to choke, trying to look completely beaten. "Don't-don't hurt Percy."

Shame and anger bubbled up inside of him. Gods, this was so stupid. Good thing everyone else was unconscious or else this would be a hundred times worse. Silently, he prayed to Hephaestus that this wasn't being shown on the Olympus TV network right now. He'd never live it down. He'd probably have to go into hiding down among the souls of the Fields of Asphodel or something.

But he had to do this. Not just because Jackson's life was on the line-okay, that was kind of important too, Nico wasn't a big fan of the guy but he didn't deserve to die like this-but for the sake of Katie, and Travis, and Connor, and Annabeth, and Reyna, and Jason.

"I...I know a way," he stammered, shifting from foot to foot. "I've seen him. Ethan Nakamura. He's down in Elysium." He wasn't sure whether or not this was true, actually: the son of Nemesis just hadn't been someone he'd looked for, and there'd been so many new souls arriving in Elysium after the war there was no way of knowing every single face. But it wasn't like he was about to tell this kid, driven nearly insane from love and obsession, that hey, there was maybe a slight possibility that his boyfriend was actually burning in the Fields of Punishment since, well, his actions had led to lots of death and suffering and other fun things like that.

"I can go down there with you. Get him back. It should be possible without having to trade a life."

Derek's eyes narrowed. "How can I trust you?"

_Do you have ANOTHER OPTION_? Nico wanted to yell, but he forced himself to stay calm. He'd never been analytical and quick-witted like Annabeth, or a natural speaker like the Roman praetors. He would have to resort to dirty tricks.

Smiling as wide as he could, he said, "Oh yeah, by the way, the last time I saw Ethan was a couple days ago. I think I saw him with another guy...blonde hair, a scar..." He paused, trying to look like he was thinking hard. He snapped his fingers. "That's right! Luke Castellan."

It was just the first name that came to mind. Nico had no idea if Luke was a) in Elysium; b) into guys; c) into skinny dark-haired boys with eyepatches that made them look like ten-year-olds who hadn't yet gotten the memo that Halloween was over and that dressing like a pirate was so first grade; or d) into kids five or six years younger than him, much less all of the above, but his words had the desired effect.

"WHAT!" Derek yelled, shoulders shaking with fury. He clenched his fists, eyes flashing red. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?"

"They're pretty good together," Nico mused, stroking his chin. "The way he put his arm around Ethan...and they shared an ice cream cone together too..." Just to be cruel, he added, "_That kind of_ marriage is perfectly fine in Elysium, and I heard they're engaged."

"NO! NO!" Derek howled. Percy had shown Nico a clip from _King Kong_ before, and at that moment, the grandson of Hypnos looked for all the world the colossal gorilla monster.

After a few seconds of cursing and shouting, he managed to collect himself. Then he pointed a dagger straight at Nico. Breathing heavily, he growled, "You-you're going to take me down there. And then I will destroy Luke Castellan."

"I can't help you until you get me out of this cage," Nico pointed out, rattling on the bars for effect. His heart pounded. He'd come up with a plan, but it was iffy at best, and if it didn't work he was doomed.

As he'd hoped, Derek was too furious to realize what was going on. "Okay, whatever." He clapped his hands and the bars shot back into the ground. Nico took a cautious step towards the other boy, trying not to let on how nervous he was. Percy had always looked so courageous and handsome when facing an enemy with impossible odds, even if he'd been covered in mud and blood and sweat.

_Okay, I've officially gone crazy,_ he thought to himself. _Percy Jackson is not handsome in the least bit, and he sure wasn't courageous enough to save my sister, even after he'd PROMISED to protect her._

But he couldn't help but glance at the unmoving body of the son of Poseidon, just once.

"Stop looking at your lover boy and get on with it!" Derek snapped, making Nico refocus.

"Right," he muttered, pissed off._ Lover boy? Is this some bad eighties chick flick?_

Hands shaking, he lifted up his arms, feeling the dark power swirling underneath his feet. One shot. That's all you get. He'd only done this once before, at the Battle of Manhattan, and he had collapsed on the spot.

The only thing that had pulled him through was the thought of...the thought of...

No. He wouldn't let himself finish that sentence.

The ground cracked open, a deep gash the color of doom. Squeezing his eyes shut, Nico summoned up several skeleton warriors. Since they were unable to get tired, they should be able to resist Derek's magic. At the same time, he created a shadow shield-a large bubble of swirling grey fog-to protect the others from the inevitable battle. It sapped up most of his strength, and he prayed that the skeleton warriors were as fierce and strong as they'd been last time. Otherwise, he was totally screwed.

One of the skeletons marched over to Derek and pinned him down. Silver mist flowed from the boy's palms, but the magic had no effect whatsoever.

Another one ripped out one of its ribs. It held up the bone, which morphed into a gleaming ivory sword. Seeing the weapon, Derek began to struggle against the undead warrior's grip, but quick as a flash, the skeleton melted into a cage, binding the kid's limbs down onto the ground. The other skeleton, the one with the sword, advanced towards him, raising the weapon.

"No!" he cried. "I have to see Ethan!"

At this moment, a blade of glittering gold cut through the shadow shield, and Reyna and Jason burst through the gap. Separated from Derek, the magic must've stopped working on them. They wore identical expressions of determination, and for a fleeting second, Nico wondered if they were dating. Then he forced himself to concentrate. Being ADHD wasn't an excuse to think about comrades' love lives while fighting for survival.

_Comrades._ The word hit him hard. Even though he'd known Jason and Reyna for a_ day_ and Percy and Annabeth for_ two and a half years_, he felt so much closer to the Roman teens. Which was completely stupid and irrelevant at a time like this.

"You," Jason growled, brandishing his sword. "I know you. Derek Allens-Porter."

Nico furrowed his brow. "Wait. You guys...know each other?"

"Not exactly, _Octavian_," Reyna said, moving to Derek's left side and drawing her dagger. "But we need him."

"Wait, what? What for? Why are you here? What's going on?" The questions spilled out of him. "Don't you guys have pegasuses-pegasi-whatever-to take you guys places? Why are you two taking the bus?" He felt ten years old again, grilling Percy Jackson in Maine:_ So are you really good at surfing? Do you fight a lot with Thalia? If Annabeth is so smart, why'd she fall off the cliff? Hey, is Annabeth your girlfriend?_ That last question, of course, had been out of simple curiosity. Not because he'd wanted a specific answer or anything. Of course not.

Below them, Derek was still yelling. "Let me outta here!" Jason rolled his eyes and shocked the kid with his hands, which effectively shut him up.

Reyna's eyes flared. "That is our business. Thank you for securing the boy safely, though. Nico di Angelo, you are much more powerful than I expected. Children of Pluto are often strong, of course, but raising these soldiers straight from the Underworld and seizing control of the shadows...that is significantly much more than what I expected from you."

"Oh, okay," Nico said awkwardly after a moment of silence. "Cool." What was he supposed to say?

"What was he harassing you about, anyway?" Jason asked, fidgeting. "When I was frozen by his magic, I could still hear everything he said. Something about that other kid you were with?"

Nico's heart stopped. _Oh my gods._ What if Katie and Travis and Percy had been able to hear everything that had been said, too? "I don't know what you're talking about," he said slowly, clipping off his words.

"No, but it might be important to our...our plan," Jason said. "We need to know how he works. How he thinks."

"Nico boy here, he's as bent as a weeping willow," Derek yelled. Evidently, he'd recovered from Jason's shock, and Nico found himself wishing the son of Jupiter had bothered to given the boy a more intense dose of electricity.

Blood roaring in his ears, he forced a laugh. "Uh, what? No way." He was hoping that the Roman kids wouldn't know what Derek meant, but realization dawned in their eyes.

"Oh," Reyna said softly, looking much younger and kinder than she had a moment earlier. She looked at Nico with pity.

_Don't give me that look,_ he wanted to yell. _I don't deserve to be felt sorry for._ A mixture of rage and fear washed over him and he raised his Stygian iron sword, prepared to hurt Derek bad. This kid needed it. He needed to know how it felt.

Right before he was about to sweep his arm down, he saw something silver glitter in Derek's fist._ A knife._

Jason grabbed his wrist. "No!" At that moment, Derek stabbed, metal slicing straight into Jason's ankle. The Roman boy wobbled for a second and then collapsed, eyes fluttering. Breathing heavily, Reyna slipped a bottle of nectar from her bag and quickly dribbled some into his slack mouth.

Without stopping to think, Nico brought the blade down hard. Derek's eyes rolled back in his head and his face twisted in agony.

Down for the count. He clenched his fists. He didn't just want to knock the guy out. He wanted to _kill_ him, send him straight to Punishment, but the fact that he could want to _murder_ someone scared himself too much.

He waved his hands, and the shadow shield dissipated. Immediately, his eyes fell on Percy, who was still collapsed in the exact same position as before. He wanted to rush over without restraint, but he forced himself to stay calm. Reyna and Jason were nearby.

Behind him, the female praetor of Rome sighed. "This knife. It had Lethe water on it. I stopped the worst of the poison, but Jason won't remember anything from the past couple hours once he wakes."

"But...he got hurt once before. That was the second time Derek stabbed him," Nico said, trying to control his voice. "And he remembered things fine." _Too fine_, he wanted to say.

"The first time it didn't actually enter his bloodstream," Reyna said sadly. "It just grazed his shoulder. It was the magic that kept him down on the ground."

Okay, that was it. So what if Reyna was here, he had to see how the other demigods were. He broke into a run.

Percy's face was cut up and bruised, but there was no wound. Reyna walked over and handed Nico the bottle of nectar silently.

Movements mechanical, he pushed Percy's lips apart, trying not to think about what he was doing, and poured the liquid down the son of Poseidon's throat.

Color seemed to return to his face, and he sputtered a little. Nico breathed a sigh of relief.

Reyna studied Nico's expression. "Are you actually," she said.

"What?"

"Are you actually...interested in him?"

He flinched. "You didn't answer my question about what you want with Derek," he pointed out, turning away. "Anyway, I have to go help my other companions, too."

After they had given Travis and Katie the nectar, Reyna handed Nico a couple hundred American dollars, crisp and bundled in twenties. "We were expecting to spend more time searching for Derek," she explained. "So we brought more money than we need. But without you, we would've all perished. Here. Take it."

"I don't need your help," he said automatically, stepping away. Accepting would mean being in debt, having a burden. It would forge a bond that he didn't want. It was always, always better to be alone.

Reyna raised her chin, lips twisting. They were more alike than he'd thought, Nico realized. Both stubborn, defiant. Both lone wolves. "No. I may need your assistance one day soon. Consider this payment in advance."

After a few moments, in which Nico silently determined insulting the praetor of Rome was not in his best interests, he snatched the cash out of her palm. "Fine. Whatever. Thanks, I guess."

Reyna paused, scanning Percy, Katie, and Travis. They were starting to stir. "Should I ask who your friends are?"

"They aren't my-no, you shouldn't." Romans and Greeks did not mix. Nico cleared his throat, anxious. "I should go and shadow-travel with them now. Before they wake up fully."

Reyna searched his face and then nodded. "Yes. All right. I will not question it further. Good luck to you, son of Pluto."

She held out her hand, and they shook, and it felt too much like a promise between friends for Nico's comfort.

* * *

**Hey, guys! Sorry for the late update, I was across the country at this international math competition so I didn't have much time.**

**So in celebration of the upcoming holidays, I will be giving presents to all readers who are interested. I'll be writing fanfiction and drawing fanart. If you're interested, add a review with the following:**

**1) Your favorite thing about this fic**

**2) Something you wish I would change/a suggestion for an upcoming chapter **

**3) Your Heroes of the Olympus request**

**I'll choose whether to make your gift a fic or art, depending on what I think suits it best.**

**Please, nothing that would be rated M, no OCs, no crack pairings (Percy x Nico counts as canon), no AUs, and nothing blatantly OOC. Thanks! I'll be taking requests up until November 30th. After that, you can still make a gift request, but I may not have enough time. Also if I get very similar things I may roll them into the same present.**

**This is my way of saying thank you for putting up with me and my random writing. I hope you all have a good holiday!**


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